Five battles/wars were compared to see the changing nature of warfare: Boudica and the Roman invasion; the Battle of Hastings; Waterloo; the Battle of Rorke's Drift; and World War 1. It was the first time we'd given more than a cursory glance to the Napoleonic and Zulu wars, and both Solomon and Monica loved the History Buffs YouTube channel that looks at how historically accurate certain films are.
Of course the reality of warfare is a far cry from the glorious battles depicted in films and computer games, and nothing emphasises that more than the trench warfare of World War 1. We looked at World War 1 with the BBC's WW1 A-Z.
We played three battle games this week: Risk, Stratego, and Fortnite. Risk is one of Solomon's favourite board games, although as it takes hours to play we don't play it as often as he would like. The children had never played Stratego before, but the Lord of the Ring's version we had in the cupboard has quickly become one of Solomon's favourites. Both the games are still a bit too long for Monica, and she wanders during the game.
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| Lord of the Rings Stratego |
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| Solomon and Monica's Fortnite maps |
One of Solomon's Fortnite stories:
Lots of people were jumping off the Battle Bus at Greasy Grove, Desert City, Wailing Woods, Tall Towers, Loot Lake, Dusty Divit, and Snobby Shores, but, there were two people still on the Battle Bus. One of them jumped of at Death Hut, the other jumped off at Haunted Hills. The person who went to Haunted Hills found an uncommon tactical shotgun, and a green bolt-action sniper rifle, and an epic rocket launcher. The person at Death Hut went inside the hut and there was a trap on the ceiling and lots of holes. He fell down a hole and built some steps up. He then opened a chest and in the chest was a blue bolt-action sniper rifle and a rare assault rifle. Meanwhile, the circle included Snobby Shores, Loot Lake, Dusty Divit, Wailing Woods, Tall Towers and Desert City. So the person at Death Hut ran to the edge of the island and built a bridge to Junk Junction. Then he went to Dusty Divit, and the person at Haunted Hills went to Fatal Fields, and found a chest. In the chest was three small shield potions and a shield potion, and a legendary assault rifle. He picked up the legendary assault rifle and the small shield potions. He put two of them on, and swapped the last one for the shield potion. Then he went to part of Lucky Landing because only part of it was in the circle. Then he went to Snobby Shores because the storm had now taken over all of Lucky Landing. Part of Loot Lake was in the storm too. By the time he got to Snobby Shores, the circle had moved. The circle now included Tall Towers, Desert City and Wailing Woods. He went to part of Wailing Woods because only part of it was in the circle. But by then, the circle included Tall Towers and Desert City. When he was going to Tall Towers he was being shot at, so he built a fortress three floors high around himself, with a door and window. But, he accidentally built his fortress four floors high and the other person broke the bottom of the fortress so he died because he took a lot of damage when he fell down the big hole at Death Hut earlier. Now there were two people left, including the one that had killed the person. He went to a clump of trees in Desert City and waited for the last person to enter into Desert City. When he saw the last person came through the storm wall he built a big fortress six floors high. But, the bottom of the fortress was destroyed. He had five health left, and so ran away. The other person in the clump of trees chased him, and took shots at him. He built a metal box around himself and put a chug gug on. He broke the metal box while the other person started building a fortress three floors high but he accidentally built it six floors high. The person who didn’t build the fortress had a rocket launcher, and broke the bottom of the fortress. And the person on top of the fortress had one health left. He ran away and jumped a lot. But he was shot because he was running around a hill. The person who was chasing him, ran round the other side of the hill, and shot him, and killed him. He won the battle because he was clever.
Monica's Fortnite story:
One girl jumped off the Battle Bus at Flush Factory, she collected lots of guns, then she went to Wobbly House to make sure she was inside the circle and out of the storm. At Wobbly House she went up the stairs, and collected a shield potion. She stayed inside Wobbly House until the storm moved again. Then she decided to go to Lucky Landing and got lots of wood from the pink tree. Then she went to Poo House, and used up all her bullets shooting someone in the bedroom in Poo House. She went to look for more bullets outside the disco which was nearby. She didn’t manage to find any. But then she found some on the dancefloor inside the disco. The music was playing so she had a little dance too. Then she was shot by a boy whilst she was dancing and not paying attention. The person who shot her took her guns, then they left and made their way to Lucky Landing. At Lucky Landing, the boy got lots of wood from the pink tree. Then he went to Tall Towers to try to get more guns, and he managed to find an assault rifle, and a sub-machine gun. He also got a shield potion. He heard someone coming, so he hid behind a tree, and then shot them as they walked past. He picked up their guns, and then saw a Llama Piñata in the distance. He went across to it and opened it, and got lots of goodies from it. One of the goodies he got was a Boogie Bomb, which he threw, and it made everyone dance for 5 seconds. The storm was closing in so then he had to head to Flush Factory where there was only one other person left. He was then shot by a girl, so he didn’t win.
Next week's project: Myths and Legends.
